Will the Pandemic Change the Way We Deliver K-12 Education?

• Author: Exstrom, Michelle

Most children are back at school, but it's not anything like school as we knew it. Students no longer huddle with friends before class, sit close to each other at lunch trading food, or walk down hallways together to their lockers. Teachers no longer lecture to rooms filled with high-schoolers or give hugs to hesitant kindergarteners. Sports and pep rallies have been canceled. Schools feel empty and sterile, and the mood is somber.

Yes, the pandemic has left school looking and feeling much different this fall. And because it was left to school districts to decide how to reopen, schools also look very different from each other.

In some communities, if school buildings are open at all, it's only to teachers and administrators who guide instruction remotely. Other districts have welcomed all students back, but with strict social-distancing and mask-wearing rules. Still others are combining some face-to-face teaching with distance learning.

Often, what school looks like depends on the grade level. Elementary students may attend in person since they are more likely to benefit from it, and middle and high school students may learn online or in a hybrid model since they tend to adapt more easily to using the technology and usually are more self-directed.

The Center for Reinventing Public Education and the news journal Education Week are tracking the details of district reopening plans. Because of rapidly changing levels of infection, district officials were changing plans up to the very minute the new school year started, and some are still tweaking details. Regardless of the learning approach, many school district officials report that deciding what school would look like this fall was one of the most difficult decisions of their career.

The Many Ways to School This Fall "Getting Back to School: An Update on Plans From Across the Country" gives a snapshot of how school districts across the country planned to reopen this fall. Researchers from the Center on Reinventing Public Education compiled a statistical representation of all U.S. school districts by reviewing the websites, social media and local news associated with 477 districts between Aug. 17 and 21. The key findings include: * Almost half of the nation's school districts were planning to return to full in-person instruction. * Students in rural communities were far more likely to have access to fully in-person instruction than suburban and city students. * Students in high-poverty districts were the most likely to start the year with remote learning. * Most districts have outlined plans for how remote learning and in-person learning might look this year. Difficult Decisions for All

"We're very concerned about safety," says Kristi Wilson, president of the American Association of School Administrators and superintendent of the Buckeye Elementary School District just west of Phoenix. "We can make up for all kinds of disruptions. But what we can't make up for is the critical mistake because we took an unnecessary risk with a child's life or a teacher's life."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided guidance for schools before...